I chuckled as she nibbled on a few Ebi and California rolls—the only kind of sushi she would eat. She ignored my teasing that it wasn’t really sushi since the shrimp was cooked and the other was just vegetables. She ate heartily, but began to feel ill a couple hours after dinner, and had been up most of the night. I blamed the Ebi.

Bad shrimp was hell.

Between her retching, and the contents of Gracie’s diaper this morning, I was feeling a little under the weather myself. Whoever said this shit, pardon the pun, got easier, was a fucking liar. Katy seemed to handle it all fine, but I still gagged on occasion. How something so small and adorable could produce nuclear explosions the way Gracie did was a mystery.

New York Times/USA Today bestselling author Melanie Moreland, lives a happy and content life in a quiet area of Ontario with her beloved husband of twenty-seven-plus years and their rescue cat Amber. Nothing means more to her than her friends and family, and she cherishes every moment spent with them.

While seriously addicted to coffee, and highly challenged with all things computer-related and technical, she relishes baking, cooking, and trying new recipes for people to sample. She loves to throw dinner parties, and also enjoys travelling, here and abroad, but finds coming home is always the best part of any trip.

Melanie delights in a good romance story with some bumps along the way, but is a true believer in happily ever after. When her head isn’t buried in a book, it is bent over a keyboard, furiously typing away as her characters dictate their creative storylines to her, often with a large glass of wine keeping her company.